The invention relates to an apparatus for working a workpiece, which apparatus comprises drive means for rotating a carrier about an axis of rotation, a tool for working said workpiece, means for moving said tool in an x-direction and a y-direction with respect to said drive means, and a control unit comprising a memory for one or more control programs, wherein said control unit is arranged for controlling said moving means in accordance with a control program, in such a manner that said tool follows one or more desired paths for working the workpiece, and also to a method for storing a control program for such an apparatus and to a method for controlling such an apparatus.
Apparatus of the above kind are known in various embodiments thereof, and they may be adapted for working the workpiece, whether or not by removing stock. Known apparatus are for example lathes, forming lathes or the like. Usually a control program is stored in the memory in a teaching or programming phase in the known apparatus, after which the control unit controls the moving means in accordance with the control program in the production phase, so that the tool is moved in the desired path or paths along the workpiece, which is clamped in the apparatus, so as to carry out the desired working step on the workpiece. One problem that occurs with known apparatus is that when the tool is exchanged or worked, the tool contour and/or the position of said contour with respect to the axis of rotation no longer correspond with the contour and/or the position of the tool during the teaching or programming phase, in particular if the tool must be adjusted in advance outside the apparatus. Another problem is that when maintenance or repairs are being carried out on the apparatus, whereby the moving means are for example detached from the frame of the apparatus, it is virtually impossible to fix the moving means in exactly the same position in the apparatus again. In such cases a change actually occurs in one or more apparatus parameters that influence the control program, as a result of which the stored program can no longer be used. In that case it will be necessary to store the control program for the product in question in the memory anew in a teaching or programming phase.
In the mass production of large numbers of identical products, several apparatus of the above kind will usually produce the same workpiece. With the known apparatus a control program must be stored in the memory in a teaching or programming phase for each apparatus separately. This makes it virtually impossible to achieve an exactly synchronized same production time for all apparatus which produce the same product. This is a drawback, in particular if the worked workpieces from two or more apparatus must subsequently undergo further working in a common subsequent apparatus.